Bellaire edges Cinco Ranch on late touchdown

Mike Tenney

Published 12:10 pm, Saturday, November 14, 2015

The 900-pound gorilla is off their back.

The dark, overhead could that kept raining on their annual parade has been pushed out.

What cliché you want to use, the Bellaire football team exercised some serious demons and put the past behind them Saturday afternoon, knocking off longtime nemesis Cinco Ranch, 35-31, at sunny Rhodes Stadium in Katy to begin the Region III-6A, Division I state playoffs with its first postseason win in at least 30 years

The victory also means the Cardinals, led by first-year head coach Herb Kunz, now move on to the Area Round to play Cy-Falls next Saturday afternoon at the University of Houston. (Cy Falls began the playoffs Saturday afternoon by defeating Aldine Nimitz).

Saturday’s game was the fifth consecutive year that Bellaire and Cinco Ranch have met in the first round of the playoffs and in their past four games, Cinco Ranch scored at least 50 points, but this one was a different story with the Bellaire defense getting Cinco Ranch off schedule.

The game-changing plays from the rundown crew, along with some serious creativity by the Bellaire offensive coaches that resulted in quite a few big plays, got the job done this time around.

The defensive front, led by Jayden Peavy, Billy Booker Jr., and linebacker Jackson Twyman, harassed Cinco Ranch quarterback Russell Morrison all afternoon, sacking him six times in the first half alone. By game’s end, that number had well exceeded 10 sacks as the young men in white shirts came at Morrison from all directions, angles and areas in the Ranch’s backfield.

Offensively, trying to get the ball to their big playmakers like wide receivers Courtney Lark, Alex Spadone and D’Aundre Boyd, the Cardinals’ simply snapped the ball to them in the “Wildcat/Cardinal” formation or handed off to them on end-arounds instead of throwing the ball.

And that proved to be big because two of those end-around plays resulted in third-quarter touchdowns with Lark and Spadone each running for a score.

After the teams were tied at 14 at halftime, Cinco Ranch kicker Brandon Contreras nailed a 37-yard field goal to begin the third period for a 17-14 lead.

But the Cardinals came back a minute later to retake the upper hand on an Alex Spadone 54-yard touchdown run that made it 21-17 after Benjamin Williams’ extra-point kick. The score came when Spadone took a handoff while in motion and then sprinted up the field past the Cinco defense.

The Cougars went back in front 24-21 on their next possession when a quick, two-minute drive was capped off with Morrison running 21 yards for the score. Brandon Contreras added his third extra-point of the game.

But the Cardinals went back to that jet sweep with their receiver -- only this time they used Lark -- taking a handoff from quarterback John Hubbell while in motion and the senior speedster bolted 68 yards to the end zone on basically the same play, giving Bellaire its third lead of the afternoon. 28-24.

Midway through the fourth quarter, the District 19-6A runner-ups took their final advantage on Brant Kuithe’s second touchdown run of the game -- this one from just a yard out -- to lead 31-28 with 6:46 to go.

But Bellaire came back with one final touchdown -- a one-yard run by Lark with less than two minutes to play for what proved to be the game-winner. Williams’ added the all-important extra-point kick and Cinco Ranch had to score a touchdown to win it.

They never got a first down. With Morrison losing vital yardage on a pair of Bellaire sacks, the Cougars could not pick up a first down despite a pass completion on fourth down and Bellaire got the ball back with over a minute to go.

With Hubbell, who was 26-of-38 passing for over 250 yards kneeling down twice, the Cardinals ran out the clock.

The Cardinals, who are Bi-District champs for the first time in a while, are now 6-5 on the season and will get back to practice Monday.

Cinco Ranch closes out the season with a 9-2 record after they were 9-0 just a couple of weeks ago.